Vesuvianite
Amazing Story!
Sometimes a treasure is uncovered in the most unexpected of places, when you aren't even looking for it. That was the case when exceptional boron-rich vesuvianite crystals were discovered during the course of regular mining operations in an asbestos mine.
Vesuvianite |
The Jeffrey Mine, in the Quebec eastern townships community of Asbestos, is one of the largest asbestos mines in the world. It has been operating since the 1880s, but even before the mine opened, settlers and natives collected asbestos fibres to knit socks and mittens. This mine is unlike the tunnel mines people normally think of -- it's a huge open pit in the middle of the town. The fact that these beautiful crystals survived more than a hundred years of massive blasting is miraculous! |
Vesuvianite is not an uncommon mineral in Canada, and is particularly well-known from Quebec occurrences. It is also relatively common in other countries, particularly from the Wilu River area in the Sakha Republic of Russia. One of the mineralogists at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Scott Ercit, participated in the description of a new species of vesuvianite, wiluite, from the area.
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